During the past year or so, Darrell Pace who runs this site:

http://www.1142combatengineers.com/

Has sent a few folks my way to try and discover any information regarding the 285th Engineers. The 285th were attached to the 1142nd Engineer Combat Group, and that is why people are writing to him for info. Unfortunately Darrell doesn't have anything he can share, so together we are trying to help.

The following people have written to me for assistance. Here are their letters:

My name is Robert Arbogast I served in the US Navy 1961-1965. I am trying to do some research on my Father who served in the US Army WW2. My Father passed away years ago. I have contacted various organizations with no help. They said some of the records in that time frame were destroyed in a fire.

 

My Father- Willard D. Arbogast

His Unit----285th Combat Engineer Bat. Company B -( Europe)

Was hoping maybe someone would be able to help me with some information about the 285th Co. B Any information would be appreciated very much.

 

Thank You

Robert Arbogast

Hello,

 

I am the grandson of the now deceased Wallace Homer Allen (service no. 38568385) and I have recently been interested in his WWII experience. He was assigned to the 285th Engineer Combat Battalion which I believe was attached to the 1142nd Combat Engineer Group during the war. Would you happen to recall any information about him?

 

I have sketchy information but what I do have showed he entered service from Oklahoma in 1943 and was discharged from Texas in 1948. He was an uneducated American Indian at the age of 29 with five kids at the time he was inducted. He was apparently in the hospital at Brooke Army Hospital for sometime before his discharge that I can only assume was related to his mental health at the time. To my knowledge, confusion on the part of my grandfather and the Army led him to a other than honorable discharge due to unaccounted time (AWOL) that he fought the Army and VA for 40 years before his death and which was eventually upgraded to Honorable by the Army Discharge Review Board in 1982.

 

I would greatly appreciate any information regarding my grandfather that you may have. Thank you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Anthony Waldroup, MD, MPH

Lt Col, USAF, MC, SFS

Hello My Name is Shawn Promin,

 

My Grandfather is Edward Louis Promin, He was attached to 285th Army engineer Corp, A bailey bridge unit attached to Patton 44-45. My Grandfather is still alive and is 87 years old. If you could help me to plot his trek across Europe. I am also retired NAVY I am 40 years old. And a major WWII history follower. I know his unit was disbanded when they got somewhere in Europe and he was the last in the unit before Decom, I also know he worked at HQ for Patton's officers and he was Patton's driver on many occasions. I want to understand more of this before he dies he is getting old and frail but he still has the twinkle of mischief and sorrow in his eye when he talks about the war. If you could get back to me I would appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your time.

 

Shawn Promin

NOTE: Shawn if you come across this post, please re-send your email. I tried emailing you in April 2010 and your address now bounces!

The latest letter is from:

Marion, Darrell

 

It is quite humbling to reach out to strangers and to receive so much help and information so quickly.

 

Tomorrow I will be out of my office but will begin to follow up with the contacts below. I had contacted some government organization about five years ago. My dad’s records, along with many others were lost in a fire. We moved to Wyoming 2 years ago and in the process I misplaced what little information they could provide.

 

I found more photos of my dad. The attached was in France Aug 21 1945 and Austria 1945. The group photo is with the Battalion Commander. The faces are very clear and I assume I should be able to locate the name of the Lt Col. who was the Battalion Commander. Another was dad and his buddies Cohen and Eddie.

 

Thanks again.

Joe Gulino, P.E.

Joe sent along two photos also. Am attaching the two pdfs.

Of course we have given them all the typical research suggestions to explore, and have put them in contact with each other.

If anyone has anything they can share about the 285th, please contact us via this post or write to me personally. Thanks, M1

Joe_L_Gulino_right_of_center_Austria_1945_going_to_church_services_Battalion_Comander_Lt_Col_in_center_1.pdf

Joseph__Joe__L_Gulino_France_Aug_20_1945.pdf

Hello,

My dad passed away three weeks ago. He was a platoon leader and after the BotB became the commanding officer for 285th Co B combat engineers. I have a few pictures of some of the bridges they built and a nice XII corps book.

In addition to my dad's command of the 285th B Co, he had an honor co command at General Patton's funeral. After the war, he was assigned to HQ where he was assigned various tasks. Later he was given Command of the 24th Armored Engineers 4th Armored Division. As with most of our parents, he didn't talk much about the war, but ever so often would talk about "this or that" He took more pride in commanding the 285th than he did his other commands. Only recently did I learn that he had an honor co command at Gen Patton's funeral or that he had a battalion command after the war.

If anyone is interested I will try to scan a few pictures.

Joe

Joe:

Count me in!!!

I was just getting ready to shut down for the night, when I saw you post, and had to reply. Will write more later, but the pillow is screaming at me!

Would love to hear more and see more and of course my curiosity is roused about the Patton funeral.

ZZZZZZZzzzzz,

M

Joe, also meant to send my condolences. So sorry for your loss.

Marion, this is just total curiosity but I have read the foregoing posts and as always I like to look up in our 'bible' what the various organisations were doing in Europe. Why is it there is no mention of the 285th or the 1142nd there? In the index it goes from 284th to 286th and 1141st to 1145th.

Colin.

Colin:

Hmmmm, I really have no explanation, other than maybe they simply didn't have info compiled/available to them at time of printing. There are other similar gaps in the book, which I've noticed while performing research for others.

Marion, this is just total curiosity but I have read the foregoing posts and as always I like to look up in our 'bible' what the various organisations were doing in Europe. Why is it there is no mention of the 285th or the 1142nd there? In the index it goes from 284th to 286th and 1141st to 1145th.

 

Colin.

What is the "bible"?

thanks.

I found this. I am not sure it helps but here it is anyway. http://www.7tharmddiv.org/bulge/index.htm#fwdssho

Also, I was at my dad's house today and found a 285th Co B picture. Unfortunately, my dad was home on leave when this picture was taken.

Ah, the 'bible' many of us refer to is:

The Corps of Engineers - The War Against Germany - Authors: Alfred M. Beck; Abe Bortz; Charles W. Lynch; Lidia Mayo; And Ralph F. Weld - Publisher: Department of the Army - The book describes in detail the role of the Army Corps Engineers in various campaigns, from North Africa, Italy, as well as Central and Western Europe, from 1941-1944. Includes photos, maps... - Recommended to me by Rod O'Barr. Received the book in August 2004. There are numerous references to the 36th, 39th and 540th Engineers and it's a tremendous help to me while trying to write a concise history of the VI Corps Engineers.

Are you planning on scanning the photo to share with us?

Ah, the 'bible' many of us refer to is:

 

The Corps of Engineers - The War Against Germany - Authors: Alfred M. Beck; Abe Bortz; Charles W. Lynch; Lidia Mayo; And Ralph F. Weld - Publisher: Department of the Army - The book describes in detail the role of the Army Corps Engineers in various campaigns, from North Africa, Italy, as well as Central and Western Europe, from 1941-1944. Includes photos, maps... - Recommended to me by Rod O'Barr. Received the book in August 2004. There are numerous references to the 36th, 39th and 540th Engineers and it's a tremendous help to me while trying to write a concise history of the VI Corps Engineers.

 

Are you planning on scanning the photo to share with us?

re: photo...

yes, but it is @18 inches long. I will probably take a picture of it. I also plan on scanning some pictures of bridges they built.

Excellent. Thanks. I look forward to all of them.